by Hayley

Author photo from: http://www.english.ohiou.edu/cw/litfest/

Butler says he wrote 12 plays, 44 short stories, and 5 novels before "finally writing well."

"Sometimes the worst thing that can happen to you is to get published as an undergrad." I get it, but I don't agree.

"What you write needs to be fundamentally grounded in the idea that art does not come from the mind. It comes from the place where you dream, from your unconscious, from your white-hot center." Ok, but what if you're sleep-deprived? Seriously though, I agree that my best work stems from somewhere inside that I don't have to think about too much. The best images in my poems are gifts from my unconscious mind. But it's my mind, I believe, that figures out how to put these images to good use.

"THRUM"

"No one who wrote well ever wrote drunk."

"Fiction is the art form of human yearning. Plot is yearning challenged and thwarted." Nice, Butler. Nice. I will quote this in my literature courses when I am committing the "fault" of literature professors everywhere by asking, "What does the story mean?"

Michelle Bentley

Lit Fest the collective experience...

By Michelle Bentley
Day 2

Bonnie Jo Campbell

By Michelle Dotts

How many OUS students can fit on a Baker Center escalator?*

Breanna Martin
     Lit Fest 2013 was a great experience. I had never been to the Athens Campus before, so this trip was two experiences in one for me. I have much to say about the Campus itself. Though there was not enough time in the three days I was there to see the campus in full, I did enjoy the many tours. There was so much to see from the Maya Lin artwork "Input", to the art museum, to the many shops and restaurants down Court Street. From the view point of a small town girl who finds the southern campus to be large in itself, the Athens campus was too much to take in at once.
     One of my favorite observations was the diversity among the students attending the Athens campus. The many languages heard as I walked down the halls and sidewalks and streets. The beauty of so many people from different corners of the world all coming together with one common interest: Education. For so many people from different cultures wanting to study the many fields offered at Ohio University. It just blows me away that they find my little corner of the world worth visiting to study.
     All and all I hope to return to the Athens Campus to see all of it someday.  However, I believe I will stay at my small campus and enjoy the little things. I just want to thank everyone that made this experience possible.

Corey

     I really enjoyed my time at the Lit Fest and my time spent back in Athens with some new friends that I have found. I always enjoy the opportunity to go back to Athens, whatever the occasion may be, because it is always guaranteed that it will be interesting; there haven't really been any trips to Athens where you can go back home with the absence of a new story to tell. This was one of the first times that a trip to Athens has had me come back feeling better than before I went, a feeling that is often majestic in its occurrence due to the implications of the adventure.

     Previously, I never had much interest in poetry, contemporary poetry at least; I didn't respect the lack of rhyme. I always felt more enamored towards songwriters, those who had something of substance to say and could say it in a way that people of all sorts could enjoy. However, hearing poems from Dean Young and just a few from Bonnie Jo Campbell made me write some of my own while in Athens, and I realized that when you don't force yourself to rhyme every line with another, you are freed up to create more effective imagery. So here is a slightly altered version of one of the few I wrote at Lit Fest, intended to be humorous for those who were there to understand but possibly social commentary for those who were not.

"Walking on the grassy coffins" *

Thank you for the invitation.
I felt rude walking on the grassy coffins of the deceased patients.
But if I was numbered, not named, they'd do the same.
Just to say they've been there.

I enjoyed my stay in a room with a champagne bucket,
filled with things less impressive than intended.
Call it a cultural thing.
"I doubt real champagne exists in Athens anyways",
Says a man in a black turtleneck.
Using magical eyebrows for emphasis.

The main events, critically acclaimed.
(Meaning they didn't sell).
Inspired me to write a poem.
So they were effective, nonetheless.

Their poems took me away from Shel Silverstein.
One of the only poets I enjoyed before.
Though the list still seems thin.
I now have added two more.

And all I can say is thank you.




*picture added by Hayley

By Michelle Bentley

By Michelle Bentley

 A photo:

A link:  http://www.english.ohiou.edu/cw/litfest/

and two quotes:

"As long as there's sky, someone will be falling from it." -- Dean Young

"You thought that love could mend all broken things; wasn't that the business of love?" -- Bonnie Jo Campbell 

On Wednesday, April 10th through Friday, April 12th, Ohio University Southern students will be attending the Spring Literary Festival in Athens, Ohio. Follow their adventure as they blog live from the event. New posts will appear under 2013 Athens Lit Fest.